GUWAHATI, Dec 11 - Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, country�s largest car-maker, has announced it will hike prices of all its vehicles across models by up to Rs 25,000 from January 2018 in view of the consistent rise in input costs in the current market conditions, a company statement said.
�The price increase has been necessitated on account of continuous increase in commodity prices and processing costs in today�s market. Moreover, increase in fuel prices has resulted in a significant increase in freight charges for the manufacturer too,� the statement said.
Currently, MSIL sells a range of vehicles starting from the entry-level hatchback Alto 800 to the S-Cross with prices ranging between Rs 2.49 lakh and Rs 11.5 lakh (ex-showroom Guwahati).
Other car-makers, viz Honda and Toyota, have already announced a similar hike in prices of their vehicles across models from January next.
Industry experts believe such price corrections are needed from time to time for automobile manufacturers to sustain the market momentum. Rising raw material costs and other expenses cannot be totally absorbed by the company beyond a point and some of the charges have to be eventually passed on to the customer. However, industry experts maintained that comparing the new price changes with the December�17 festive season offers, this is still a great time of the year to make a purchase since manufacturers pass on maximum benefits to the customers in this festive season, the statement added.